


Message to the Crows

by ahreum



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 14:50:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5874814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahreum/pseuds/ahreum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the things to happen on a Friday night, discovering a badly beaten gang leader in the church's kitchen was not expected. Is a moment all it really takes to change a life? Friends Athelstan and Siobhan will soon find out the answer as they learn that not all debts are easily repaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Message to the Crows

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Vikings or the characters from the show. Siobhan is my original creation.

“So…I got another message from Anais.”

“Yeah?” Athelstan was neatly lining up Bibles inside the little shelves on the back of pews, but he paused to look over to Siobhan. “Are you going to write her back?”

Siobhan was silent for a moment as she ran the scenario of texting her sister through her head. “I don’t even know what I’d say.” She furrowed her brows, “Oh hey sis, haven’t talked in years. How’s your day going? Oh me? I just ran away to another country, that’s all.” She mocked ruefully.

Siobhan’s relationship with her sister wasn’t always difficult. In the beginning, she was doted on by Anais. They shared everything together, from beds to baths, to lies and secrets. As time went on, that slowly became less and less true. Maybe it was the five year age difference between them. While Siobhan wanted to keep playing with dolls, her sister was already going through puberty and didn’t have time to hang around her little sister anymore. Eventually, it felt like they were living in completely different worlds. It hurt Siobhan to see Anais replace her with the older girls and boys from school, but there was nothing she could do. Her young mind couldn’t understand that Anais was maturing and wasn’t interested in childish things anymore. To Siobhan, her sister just abandoned her out in the cold. In the end, she bottled up her feelings, and she slowly turned from sad and helpless to jaded and independent.

Athelstan shook his head slightly, “She’s been trying to reach out to you for awhile. I don’t think someone who wants to fight would do that.”

Siobhan clicked her tongue, “She might. You don’t know my sister, she holds grudges.”

Athelstan hesitated saying anything more. He had grown up with Siobhan and Anais. More specifically, Anais often babysat him, Siobhan and Aslaug when they were younger. But like Siobhan, once Anais got older, they she drifted away and became more of a stranger. By the time she was eighteen, he hardly talked to Anais. At that point, it could be said that he didn’t know Anais.

“Athelstan.” The familiar icy voice of Pastor Jona echoed through the empty church. His 6’3” figure standing in front of the heavy, double doors painted an image of intimidation, which became even more daunting as he stared down at Athelstan and Siobhan with an unreadable expression. His eyes narrowed, his thin lips pulling into an even tighter line across his weathered face as he caught Siobhan rolling her eyes. She had made herself comfortable by laying back on the stairs leading up to the podium he used to deliver his sermons. Pastor Jona found this to be utterly disrespectful, her lounging around lazily in the house of God, but he refused to confront her. He had done so before and gotten himself into a flustered mess arguing with her, and in the end, all that came from it was entertainment for Siobhan.

“Did you finish cleaning and setting out Sunday’s announcements?” Father Jona made it a point to only give Siobhan a passing glance as he made his way down the center isle. Seeing his dismissal as a challenge, she crossed her arms and looked towards the ceiling, feigning interest in whatever was up there.

“Actually, I was just finishing up.” Athelstan smiled nervously as he hurriedly set the last of the Bibles into place. He glanced over to Siobhan and watched as she clenched her jaw in anger. “Siobhan was helping me.” He said as he stepped out in front of Father Jona, conveniently between him and Siobhan.

“Is that so?” Father Jona’s voice was flat and clearly unimpressed. He was doubtful of how helpful the girl had been, and now slightly angry that Athelstan had lied to him, something he assured himself was a symptom of being around Siobhan too much. 

“Is that true, Miss Moreau?”

Slowly, she began sitting up. _What do you think, asshole?_ Siobhan thought as she reluctantly looked back to meet the Father’s judging gaze. Silently, she inhaled deep, her lips almost tingling with the words she wished she could say to him. “Yes…I was helping him.” For Athelstan’s sake, she held back. Her momentary satisfaction from telling Father Jona off wasn’t worth what her friend would be put through. This church, for reasons Siobhan couldn’t understand, meant a lot to Athelstan.

Father Jona smiled, having felt he had won a victory over Siobhan. “That’s good to hear. Perhaps you’ll join us next time.”

Siobhan began clenching her jaw again, an old habit she couldn’t break, especially with Father Jona around. Unable to tell him how she really felt, all she could do was nod and force a smile.

“She’s getting there, Father.” Athelstan interrupted quietly in an attempt to shift attention back to himself. He hoped Siobhan hadn’t heard his remark, but he could feel her staring holes into the back of his head. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, but at this point he just wanted to put an end to things before it got worst.

“Right, well, tonight’s group should be here soon.” He gave Athelstan a look. Siobhan managed to see it, but she was unsure that he was ever trying to hide it. It was the look he gave Athelstan when he wanted her gone.

Before Athelstan or Siobhan could respond, Father Jona silently excused himself and made his way past them and to his back office. 

Siobhan sighed, closed her eyes and ran a hand through her brunette locks. “He just doesn’t quit.”

Athelstan wasn’t sure what to say. He felt bad for his friend for constantly being talked down to by Father Jona and his flock, but the church had been apart of his life since he was small, and he knew Father Jona wasn’t always like this. He was a good man, but because Siobhan wasn’t Christian and very clearly didn’t approve of Jona’s congregation, the two of them always rubbed each other the wrong way. “Sio, I—”

Siobhan smiled and shook her head, “Honestly, it doesn’t matter.” It did matter to her and she was sure Athelstan knew that, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud. She didn’t want anyone to be treated differently because of their religious beliefs, especially when they aren’t hurting anyone. If it wasn’t for Athelstan, she would have never came near Jona or his church again, but that meant not seeing her friend as much since he spent a lot of his time at the church. Sometimes, she found his devotion to be almost cult-like, but she knew that Athelstan was a kindhearted boy who, despite his lack of a spine sometimes, would never hurt her or anyone else.

“Come get me when it’s all done.” She grabbed her jacket and made her way down the center isle, pausing on the way past Athelstan to give him a little shoulder bump so he knew she wasn’t angry, especially not at him. Once she was in the foyer and out of sight, she sighed, her shoulders visibly slumping a bit. She wouldn’t let Jona get to her, but it didn’t change the fact that having to go through this every time they saw each other was exhausting.

As Siobhan made her way down the dimly lit foyer, she remembered just how much she hated being in the church at night. When she told Athelstan how creepy it was, he wasn’t bothered in the least. Matter of fact, he took it upon himself to try to convince her that it wasn’t that bad. One story in particular that he told her was when he was here alone during a thunderstorm. He said there was a flash a lightning and from the other side of his office door, through the frosted glass window, he saw a dark figure. It was gone in an instant, but of course he wasn’t scared. He said it was his “guardian angel”, which comforted him but only made things worse for Siobhan. For tonight at least, the foyer leading to the sanctuary was dimly lit. Unfortunately, no other lights were turned on which left most of the church in darkness.

Quickly but quietly, Siobhan made her way deeper into the church to a room tucked away in the back, where the younger children would come so they didn't disturb Sunday service. It was a great idea to solve the issue of restless, rowdy kids during service, but wasn't enforced. Most parents, for whatever reason, still forced their kids to sit through the sermon, as if they were going to gain enlightenment and a sense of direction in their life at the age of three.

Once inside, she was relieved to see that someone had already cleaned up after last week's kids. The coloring books were stacked in a neat pile, the toys were put away in the chest, and the dolls...well, they were still here. Sitting neat and proper on the shelves, their lifeless eyes staring into the darkness until she had turned the lights on. Now they were staring at her, and it caused a shiver to run down her spine. 

Reluctantly, Siobhan closed the door behind her, all while trying to avoid eye contact with the dolls. She made her way over to the right side of the room, where there was a loveseat that sat under a window. It was the whole reason she came back here, so that she could lay back and wait in comfort for Athelstan, but after seeing the dolls, she wasn't so sure about that last part.

As she made herself comfortable, she absentmindedly pulled aside the curtain and peeked outside. It was too dark outside to see much, but she could make out the shapes of dumpsters and garbage cans, parked cars, and the wall of the building across the church parking lot.

With nothing better to do, she decided to make a game out of guessing what something was based on it's shape in the darkness. It wasn't much of a challenge since she was limited to a handful of things, but it was passing the time.

It wasn’t long after that she heard the faintest of voices coming from somewhere inside the church. They were muffled and swung in and out of earshot, but she knew it was the Friday night group. "Right on time." Siobhan sighed, turning her attention back to the window. As she stared blankly at a telephone pole across the street, she caught something darting between two trash cans off to her right. She focused in on the spot, expecting it to be a piece of trash caught in the wind or a squirrel, but to her surprise it was Buddha, a chubby little alley cat with a single spot on his right side on his otherwise white body.

Siobhan smiled and began opening the window. Clicking her tongue, she held out her hand and acted as if she had a treat for him. The stray wasted no time and came running across the street and to the window.

"Come on, jump up." Siobhan whispered as she tried to coax him onto the windowsill so she could grab him. It took him a moment, but he eventually jumped up so that she could pull him inside. Almost immediately, he started rubbing himself against her before sliding off her lap and onto the loveseat. She laughed as he pulled himself along like a snake before twisting this way and that, undoutebly happy to be out of the cold.

She was having fun darting her hand left and right as Buddha tried to catch her, but after 10 or so minutes, he lost interest and instead crawled into her lap and started kneading her thigh, his eyes drifting close.

"Tired? Yeah, me, too." Carefully, she picked him up and settled back into the loveseat, her head resting on one of the throw pillows, before setting him down on her stomach. "Lets take a nap then."

She watched him turn in a circle twice before finding the perfect spot, which happened to be him sitting right up close and facing her. She gave him one last scratch around his head and ears before closing her eyes and dozing off to the sound of Buddha's purring.

 

Siobhan awoke some time later to the chittering ring of her phone. Barely awake, she sat up, causing Buddha to slid off her chest and onto the floor. She muttered an apology as she felt around her pants for her phone. When she finally pulled it out, the screen was lit up with a message from Athelstan.

_Im almost done. meet you in front 10 mins?_

Still half asleep, she didn't even bother writing him a reply before turning the screen off. She fell back onto the couch, trying to rest a few minutes more and wake herself up at the same time.

"Mrwor?" Buddha meowed as he stretched.

"Okay, I'm up." Siobhan said. In one swift movement, she swung her feet off the couch and sat upright. "Sorry Bud, but it's time for you to go."

She gently picked him up and gave him one last hug and rub down his back before helping him back out the window. After making sure the window was closed and locked, she arched her back as she stretched her arms above her head. The loveseat was alright, but definitely wasn't meant to be slept on.

As she was bringing her arms down, Siobhan heard a dull thud. If it hadn't been as quiet as it was, she would have missed it.

"Athelstan?" Siobhan called out. She waited in silence for his reply, but heard nothing. "Not funny, Athelstan."

The realization that she was alone in a church at night came fast and she quickly found herself awake and aware of her surroundings. Scowling, she got up, made her way to the door and swung it open, careful not to let it slam into the wall behind it. She expected to see Athelstan, but all she saw was an empty hallway. Unconvinced that it wasn't him playing a cruel joke on her, she fearlessly made her way down the dark hallway, once again expecting him to be there, hiding around the corner, but again, there was no one.

Just as the thought that it was something paranormal was settling in, her phone pinged again.

_Its taking a little longer than I thought. I'll txt when I'm actually done  
it wont be long dnt worry_

_Yeah right, you're just fucking with me._ Siobhan thought as she figured he was going above and beyond to scare her. She couldn't think of a reason why he would want to, but it was more comforting to think it was Athelstan rather than...pretty much anything else going bump at night in a church.

The sharp clang of something metal hitting the ground caught Siobhan's attention, and as she looked up she noticed that there was a light on at the bottom of the stairs that led to where the kitchen and dinning area was. _Was that always on?_ She thought.

_U in the kitchen?_

Siobhan typed away on her phone as she started towards the stairs. Pressing send, she made her way down, figuring there was no point in waiting for a reply because that's where the sound came from, so it had to be him.

As she thought, the light in the kitchen was on, but she couldn't see anyone in it from the open serving counter where people would line up to be served lunch.

"Athelstaaaan~" She called in a sing-song voice as she pushed past the swinging door and into the kitchen. She stopped mid stride and gasped at the scene laid out in front of her.

On the floor, slumped against the island counter was an unfamiliar man, beaten black and blue with open cuts dripping drops of blood on the otherwise pristine white linoleum.

"Holy shit!" She cursed. Siobhan stumbled backwards, forgetting momentarily that the door behind her would was a swinging door. As she fell back on her behind and the door slammed into the wall behind it, the man groaned and shifted slightly only to stop and wince in pain.

Slowly, the stranger opened his eyes and focused in on Siobhan on the floor a few feet away from him. Against his bruised and bloodied face, his crystal blue eyes drew an eerie contrast. If she wasn't so terrified, Siobhan might have found them beautiful in a way.

"Please...wait. I need your help..." His voice was quiet and strained.

"What?"  
"I was...jumped...."

The man let out a long breath followed by a soft, pained moan as his body began to relax and slump over. Siobhan sat there, frozen in fear. Had he died, right here in front of her?

"H-hey?"

It was silent as she waited for an answer, but there was none. Slowly, as if she were expecting him to jump up and lunge at her, she stood and took a few steps towards him. She watched him closely for a few moments before hesitantly crouching down next to him. To her relief, the man was still breathing. although his breaths were slow and weak.

"Fuck, what happened?" She said, worriedly chewing on her bottom lip. "What do I do? I-I don't know what to do." 

Siobhan frantically looked around the room for an answer before she saw her phone on the floor behind her. "Everything's gonna be okay, I'm calling the cops now."

"No, don't."  
"Why not? You need help!"  
"You...can help me."

Siobhan stared at the man, her finger hovering over the dial button on her phone. What could she do to help him?

The buzz of her cellphone caused her to jump slightly. On her screen was a text from Athelstan, asking her where she was and that he was outside waiting for her.

"Athelstan. He'll know what to do." Siobhan said as she quickly tapped away on her phone. Pocketing her phone, she waited in nervous silence for Athelstan to come to the kitchen. It didn't take long, but it felt like an eternity.

"Sio, are you trying to scare me? It's not going to work." Athelstan called out as he made his way down the stairs. Just as he entered the mess hall, Siobhan came bursting through the kitchen door. One look at her panicked and he knew something was wrong.

"In here."

Before he had a chance to ask anything, Siobhan had disappeared back into the kitchen. He quickly followed after her, all the while his stomach twisted into a nervous knot.

Of all the things Athelstan expected to see, a badly beaten man on the kitchen floor was not it.

"He needs help but he won't let me call the cops."

Hearing this, Athelstan immediately grabbed Siobhan by the arm and pulled her away from the stranger.

"He doesn't want the cops called? Doesn't that seem...odd?"

The thought never crossed her mind, judging by the puzzled look she gave her friend.

"Athelstan, we gotta help him." She pleaded. "He said he was jumped."  
"All the more reason to call the cops, don't you think?"

Siobhan sighed, "If...If we can get him to my car, I can take him to the hospital."

She didn't want to argue with Athelstan about whether or not the cops should be involved. Siobhan knew all too well that there were more cruel and uncaring cops in the world than there were good ones.

Athelstan was silent as he thought it over. He was worried for their safety, but he knew Siobhan wasn't going to let this go.

"I'm coming with, I'm not letting you drive him there by yourself."  
"Yeah, of course." She nodded her head as she smiled appreciatively at him. "We should hurry."

Slumped over on the kitchen floor, the stranger seemed so small, but once Athelstan and Siobhan pulled him to his feet and led him out the back, they realized he was no lightweight. The man stood a good few inches taller than her, whereas Athelstan stood nearly as tall as him, although he had a smaller frame than the stranger.

The three of them where barely out the door when they heard Father Jona calling for Athelstan. There wouldn't have been any reason to panic if it weren't for the fact that he sounded nearby.

"Shit." Siobhan cursed.  
"I'll go. Can you get him there yourself?"

Siobhan glanced back at her car, parked a few feet away, and nodded.

"Athelstan!" Jona's voice grew closer.

As careful as she could, while a mostly unconscious man was leaning on her, Siobhan stumbled towards her car. It wasn't easy to open the car door, but she somehow managed and laid him onto the backseat. After he was safely tucked away in the back, she turned back to look for Athelstan.

Once again, time seemed to crawl slowly by as she waited for Athelstan to come back.

Unable to wait any longer, Siobhan pulled out her phone and hastily texted Athelstan that she was going ahead and taking the stranger to the hospital.

Now in the driver's seat, Siobhan looked back at the man. "Hey, you alright?"

There was a moment of silence before he moaned in pain.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you help." She assured him as she started the car and pulled out of the church driveway.


End file.
